What happens if you go to sell a property, but the buyer backs out? Or what if you do a seller

finance deal and the buyer stops making payments? Today, we're breaking down three questions

every rookie investor needs to hear from selling a property to renting it out.

This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. I'm Ashley Care.

And I'm Tony J. Robinson. And with that, let's get into today's first question.

So today's first question comes from Michael in the BP forums. And Michael says,

buyer defaults after extension. Enforce our EMD or keep waiting. So Michael says, I listed a property recently that got about 20 showings

in the first week, but only one offer. It went under contract with a relatively small, non-refundable

deposit in a short closing timeline. It's been 55 days. It was supposed to be 25, but now on day 55 and

counting. The buyer missed the original close date, asked for an extension,

and I agreed the new closing date has now also passed with no closing. But the buyer still only

has a conditional loan approval, and I later found out they withheld a material fact that impacted

their financing. They're offering just a token increase to the deposit, and my realtor is

encouraging me to give them more time since there weren't multiple offers. So here are by concerns. First, the contract has technically expired after the extension. Second, the deposit is small and currently second escrow. Third, buyer hasn't been transparent about their situation. Fourth, I don't want to lose more time off market, but I also know

the layout limits the buyer pool. And then fifth, I could, in theory, always draft a retroactive

extension if they really got their financing together later. So the question is, if you were in my

shoes, would you enforce the contract and relist now or grant one final short extension,

but only with a substantial non-refundable deposit.

It's a great question. We've actually never really tackled it from the seller's side, right?

But as real estate investors, sometimes we do sell real estate as well, right? We're not just always buying. I guess what's your initial, I guess before we even talk about your take, Ashley, just what should we be considering before we make that decision?

Today's market conditions. I think that if you would have asked me, you know, two years ago, I'd say, move on to the next buyer.

Like, you know, don't waste time with this person but tony and i both have properties that have

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